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I fished from 7:30 to 10:30 in Kim City area and had decent luck with a underspin and plain swimbait. I fished the mouth of a spawning cove with my boat setting in 45' and casting to 25' and slow rolling over trees. I had 10 fish with 8 keepers, 3 LM and 5 Ks. One LM was 5.11 using a 2.8 inch plain swimbait. Another LM was 5.5 using a 3.8 inch plain swimbait. This time of year, the plain swimbait can out perform an underspin. I caught a few keepers on the underspin and the rest on a plain swimbait. The area I fished had very little bait compared to when I fished it 10 days ago. Ten days ago it had too much bait in the area. The WT was 43.5 to 46. Some shad are still dying, but it seems to be minor. I could not move around much due to the amount of boats in the BFL tournament. For me, the main feeding time was over at 9AM. I would estimate my best 5 weighed 18.5 Lbs.
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Because there are so many facets to this Lake Taneycomo trout story, it's hard to know where to begin. The prime fact is that Paul Crews of Neosho, MO, landed the biggest brown trout Saturday anyone's ever caught in the state of Missouri to date. It was officially weighed by Missouri Department of Conservation Fisheries Biologist Shane Bush and documented at 34 pounds and 10 ounces. That beat the previous state record by a little more than six pounds, caught by Scott Sandusky of Arnold, MO, in November, 2009, also on Lake Taneycomo.
Crews and partner, Jimmy Rayfield of Salem, MO, were fishing together in a trout tournament hosted by Lilleys' Landing Resort & Marina on upper Lake Taneycomo. It's called the Vince Elfrink Memorial, named after Vince who was an avid sportsman, husband, father, and friend to many of the participants of the contest, including Crews and Rayfield. Vince passed away in 2011 of brain cancer at the age of 52. And just so happens that the pair won last year's tournament, sealed by a 21-inch brown trout Rayfield had caught. The pair beat out 36 other teams to win this year's event.
The day started out foggy and wet, but the afternoon brought out the sun and wind. We all were watching for thunderstorms early but anticipating the high winds forecast for later in the day, and they did arrive about 2 p.m.. Fishing in wind gusts up to 40 m.p.h. is not easy, especially tossing a small 1/8th ounce, sculpin-colored jig around. Working a lure that small in high winds is tough, even with four-pound line, but feeling a bite is virtually impossible, unless it's a huge fish, I guess.
Crews and Rayfield had had a good day up to the minute the big fish was hooked. They had been fishing down from Lilleys' Landing most of the day but ventured up to the mouth of Fall Creek to make a drift, working their jigs along the east bank. Crews said they were in shallow water, able to see the bottom under their boat as they drifted. Table Rock Dam was releasing water at a rate of 6,850 cubic feet per second, generating two units at 3 p.m. Even with the difficulty of the wind blowing his line, Crews still felt a "tap" and set the hook. That's when the excitement started.
The fish came off the bank where it was hooked and ran toward the duo, swimming under their boat. Crews had to scramble his new rig, spinning it around so that his line didn't catch the edge of the boat or trolling motor. The trout stayed down almost the entire fight, so Crews didn't really know what he had until the very end, but he knew it was big enough "to probably win the tournament" if he landed it. Little did he know . . .
"Frank'' eventually headed across the lake to the bluff bank, then switched back to the middle and eventually returned to the inside bank where docks dot the shore. Yes, the fish has a name explained later in the story. Frank then headed to places he's probably familiar with -- the docks. Crews said he swam under at least two docks. That heightened the high risk that the line might be cut on the dock itself or boats in the docks. Crews, a seasoned angler, kept his rod way down in the water to keep the line from rubbing on anything that would end his fight.
At one point, Crews said that Frank quit moving. He thought for sure Frank had wrapped his line around something and escaped. But Frank was just resting, and a fish that big can do whatever he wants to do. Eventually, he came out, tired and ready to give in. Rayfield worked their net over his head and the pair hoisted the fished into the boat. They were just above Short Creek when the fight ended.
Crews had just bought a new boat and this was its maiden voyage. Fortunately, the live well was just big enough to fit Frank in, but he filled every bit of it. Word got back to me that they were boating in with a huge fish, so we had everything ready to receive the package. Frank was immediately placed in a large, aerated tank on our dock to rest after his ordeal.
We determined right off the bat that we'd try to keep Frank alive regardless if he was a new record or not. Once he uprighted himself and was swimming around, we pulled him out and recorded a quick, unofficial weight of 33.4 pounds. He was easily a new Missouri state record. Now we had to come up with a plan to transport him to the hatchery to be officially weighed.
We filled a stock tank full of lake water and that's where Frank rode, guarded by admirers in the back of my truck on the five-mile ride to the Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery. Shane Bush was there with hatchery personnel, ready with their official scale to see if Frank made the record books or not. Everything was done quickly and carefully, pulling him out of the stock tank to the scale, verifying his weight at 34 pounds, 10 ounces, and then moving him to an aerated tank in Shane's truck. We still had no pictures out of the water, just shaky videos, but the goal was to return him back in the lake as quickly as possible.
We caravaned down to the boat ramp access, less than a mile from the weigh in site. Shane needed to get some official measurements before release -- 38 inches long with a 27-inch girth. He confirmed our observations that the adipose fin had been clipped, which identified Frank as a triploid brown trout. I'll explain what that means later.
The sun was about to set over Table Rock Dam, so we hurried to the edge of the water to take a few pictures -- Crews and Rayfield with the new Missouri state record brown trout. We slipped Frank into the water, and Crews gently held him there until he swam out of his hand. We followed him a little ways downstream until he turned and swam close to the bank, holding his own in the swift water. Frank dashed the record books, survived being fought, handled, trucked, weighed, trucked and photographed and before sundown was back in Lake Taneycomo -- we hope to keep growing and maybe, just maybe, give someone else a chance to catch a state record fish.
Crews lives with his best friend and wife, Rita, and their son Matthew in Neosho, Missouri. They own Crews Construction and specialize in wastewater treatment plant construction. He is an avid outdoorsman, but his home waters are the Spring and Neosho rivers as well as Grand Lake, so he rarely fishes for trout except in the annual tournament honoring his fishing buddy.
Frank's story - we've always had trout hovering under our dock, feeding on pieces and parts of fish discarded from our fish cleaning facility. And on occasion there will be a big trout, either brown or rainbow, stop by for a treat. They move up and down the lake seeking out the best meal, never staying in one spot very long.
One day about three years ago, Duane Doty (dockhand and guide for Lilleys' Landing) spotted a very large brown. He stood out from the other trout. He was a brute. Duane called him Frank. Shortly after Frank showed up, another brown trout showed up and he was much bigger! Duane changed Frank's name to Frankie and called the new addition Frank. We have since videoed and photographed Frank many times when he has trolled by, so we have good records on him.
To sum up this incredible story up, fishing in a memorial tournament, named after his best friend, Paul Crews hooks a fish in extremely adverse conditions, fights a 34-pound fish on four-pound line for 20 minutes around docks, logs and boat traffic and lands it using a small trout net. He fits it in his live well and keeps it alive while transporting it to be officially weighed, measured and photographed and released back in the lake successfully to keep the story alive.
And Crews says, "Praise the Lord!"
Credit: Ryan Miloshowski for pictures.
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With some of the stuff happening in BilletHeadVille lately I felt pretty good getting to attend the Fest. I needed that and it gave me the reset I needed. Half the drive down was pretty scary. Left BilletHeadVille at 5 AM Thursday morning. We had some ice here at the house but I had no idea how much until I got off the dirt road to blacktop. Dang it was an ice rink and pulling the boat made the drive worse. Down I-49 South slowly hitting worse patches as I went, then onto I-44 towards Springfield it got even worse. What should of been a trip of just over an hour and a half turned into three hours plus to Springfield to pick up forum member Curtise for the rest of the trip down. After getting Curt loaded the trip went smooth after turning South on 65 as Ice was gone about Ozark. We hit the lodge and unloaded ready to fish. Some other forum members were already there. Had contacted Duane and Phil. They were fishing the upper part of the river so to try something different we tried another place Rim Shoals. Fished there awhile and then back to lodge for a sandwich to go then back on the water for rest of the day. We fished the rest of the day towards the bottom of the river. We caught a couple browns and many, many rainbows. Most of those smaller stockers but fun for sure,
Off the water for good food and fellowship for the evening. Some planning for the next day. Duane pulled the short straw and got stuck with me. Felt pretty sorry for him but het you have to take what you get . Speaking of Duane the best part of the trip happened to me that evening too. I received something pretty special, You all may remember this post not too many days ago,
Well this day I got a blessing with this gift. This fly tying bobbin will take its place on the BilletHead tying table to craft flies. Each time I set down in front of the vice I will remember this day.
So up on day two Duane and I took out and began on the lower end. Lots of laughs and fishing and fishing stories were shared. It was a hoot. I watched the captain fishing master bust the fish right and left. Drift after drift. Browns, rainbows, smallmouth and we each landed a cutthroat that morning. Duane even got a micro bonus catch a logperch,
Then it was down the hatch, Said it tasted like a cross between a sardine and walleye. Now we all have heard and some have even witnessed how talented Duane is. Well he said I need to do something at the back of the boat and maybe catch a fish while I am at it. Sure enough he did it, Fish on in one hand while the other hand was busy too 🤣. A couple of that mornings multiple fish,
From one end to another we headed to town for a burger and then to the dam to finish up the day. Motored up and began to drift on first cast I popped a rainbow a few fish later Duane another brown more rainbows and more browns for Duane. This last Brown was a 22 1/4 really pretty fish. We really Hammed it up that afternoon. Duane had been studying the Ham technique. Got it downed pat and passed the secret info to me. We began to put the Ham to the fish. Like an Olympic event the rainbows fell to the reversal Ham and even to the full frontal Ham. Water was fast up top and drifts fast but fish landed and great day together with a friend. Back to lodge for more food and fellowship. Plans were again made for next morning. Some of us had commitments and myself had been watching the weather. Another storm on the way I did not want to drive back on crappy roads Sunday morning I made the call to fish yesterday morning and leave around noon. Curt was Ok with this so we finished our tip fishing together again. We fished the bottom again finding higher water conditions than previous days but caught a few more. Every time we drifted or motored by Phil and Duane and all the other Jig Fest guys in this area fish were being reeled in. Curt and I caught Smallmouth and rainbows. Then I struck a brown and gold spotted fish which turned out to be my personal best brown. He was long and lean 21 1/4 inch. Out of some wood and he tried to take me back into it but I won, I reached into the livewell for a drink and snack before the last run up the river and drift to find Duane's warm and fuzzy hat he had left in the boat. I put it on and instantly got that warm and fuzzy feeling. Then knowledge and enlightenment more feelings than my pea brain could comprehend my brain felt scrambled. With all my power I could muster I yanked it off. I knew right then the power that head gear held and knew I had to return it to its rightful owner. Mojo to the max. Off the river we got and packed up for trip home. Stopped by Lilly's Landin to return magic hat then to Curt's to drop him off. Back to BilletHeadVille and home. Good trip, good friends and good fishing. More guys I need to fish with down there hopefully next trip!
BilletHead

Table Rock Lake Kimberling City 3-11-19 Report
Launched at Cow this morning to a cloudy grey sunrise with surface temps at 42.7. Boated down to White's Branch to see if I could catch any of these big A-rig fish that are showing up in the tournaments. From Schooner Creek to Cow Creek the lake is full of dying shad and gulls. Thousands of dying shad and enough gulls to scoop them up. I will tell you, if you see this Run. Don't even drop the trolling motor, cause they ain't havin it. You have to get away from those shad to get bit.
I fished for 3 hours right in the middle of it and got ZERO BITES.
At 10 o'clock I came to my senses and got away from this buffet and it got good. Surface temps were like a Rocket Ship today and were on the rise, big time. Even with that the fish wanted it slower than slow. They ate a stick bait on flat water and another deal.
I put a total of only 7 fish in the boat but they were all solid keeps and lost one around 8 lbs. at the boat. As a matter a fact she hit the side of the boat twice but when your using a 15' 4 lb. leader and are by yourself its hard to capture those biggens. After the crazyness I put her through she just decided to dive down and wrap me in a tree and be done with that foolishness.
Word on the lake today was the A-rig was just not working, it had to be slow. Bottom Ok on the Ned, but not quality fish. Jerkbait in the trees and the floater were on them and they were all good.
Surface them at 2 PM when I pulled was 48.1 at Cow Creek with gin clear water. Visibility in that area is 15' on the white spoon test.
Just about to get good, these fish are starting to stage on channel swings and spawning cove mouths.
Good Luck
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Dick Collier and Bob Tindle both showed me a spot near Kennel Branch that has deep trees in it. These are places that hold staging fish and they will rise in the water column as the water warms and patrol the tree tops. Most all is pole timber. Most are in the up to 70' to 80' depth range that come up to within 10' of the surface. They are not in the channel, but on the edge, kind of on the down slope to the deepest part of the channel. The channel breaks and behind the trees it flattens out to the 20 to 30 foot range. It was a place that both Bob and Dick, along with Beck would throw a jerkbait in the spring and a flutter spoon and a top water in the Summer. Just about a full rifle shot off the bank.
This is a place that Collier who was leading a BASS event here got beat out of the back of his boat by a Co-angler throwing a jerkbait. Dick was also throwing one but the bites came in the back of the boat. I think the Co. had over 20 pounds. Beck also got toasted out of the back of the boat herein a big event with his Co. catching 20 lbs. also on a jerkbait..
That was back in the day of the Rogue and the Redfin so it was a while back. It is one of those locations that if you have 3 guys in the boat the middle guy may catch them all or you might go there 15 times and never get a bite. You just never know as it is open water and you are fan casting.
Beck also had a little girl catch a 10.1 pounder here on a float n fly, not that long ago.
Bill and I have taken a group of dentist for years before he died. About 18 yrs. ago on a very hot early late April day. with the calmest slickest high sun you have ever seen, his group of 2 dentist caught 28 pounds best 5 on Redfins off that location. I thought it was just to nasty and the water was cold, low 60's. This was the first hot, warm day and they just toasted them. Mary was waiting at the check-in. with a camera so I kind of knew something was up. In those days we just had bag phones . It is a derby with the dentist usually about a dozen to 15 boat teems. We had 15lbs. of smallmouth on a split shot and I though I was going to win the day.
To this day, that is the most beautiful set of 5 LM I have ever seen green/turquoise backs with vibrant black stripe and snow white football bellies. Everyone of them looked brand new, liked they were all born yesterday as 5 pounders.
They weighed in a 7 pound and change for big bass and 4 more at 5lbs. or an once or two more each. Really Bill just did not get excited about fish, but he was beaming from ear to ear. Most always no matter how big or nice his were, he always said he liked yours better.
Give me a minute here. No words can describe how much I miss my friend.
I went in there yesterday and followed it back and there was a line of shad at least a 1/2 mile long that completely blacked me out from 15' to 60' solid. I really don't know if I have ever seen this big of a school, must have been millions, and millions of 3.5 inch shad in it. At times you could see them flashing and a few would come to the surface. There were also plenty floating dead, and lots of gulls working there.
This location does not work 365, it may only work a dozen times a year, usually now till spawn and then at times early morning on top water. I just don't know and really I have gotten burned so many times that I don't fish it much. I'll check it from time to time but there are times it will win any tournament that has ever been had on this lake. The 5 plus years that Bill and I fished tournaments together, I don't think we ever fished it, but perhaps we should have.
Good Luck

Had a fantastic afternoon yesterday’s with my son chasing a few bronze warriors! He caught his first smallmouth when he was 5 on the current river, and has been hooked ever since. Had him throwing a 7 foot spinning rod at 6 years old! I’m hoping his love for fishing with ole Dad continues as he’s getting closer to the age most early teens think old dad isn’t as smart anymore. Ha ha. When or if that happens soaking in some more “dads still the hero” years while they last. I love chasing these early spring smallies, they are starting to transition and found them in some spots I was expecting yesterday. Hope we can get back out there again soon!

Sure hasn’t been many fishing reports on here lately so I’m gonna do one. Took my friend Chad out on the river this past Tuesday. He hadn’t been fishing with me in about a year and the only chance I had this week was Tuesday afternoon. Which only gave us 4 hours of actually fishing! Me being a usual optimist especially when planning fishing “ha ha “ told him the rain that was moving in would start about the time we leave. So we got on the water bout 2 and was gonna fish till had enough daylight to moter back. Started out fishing a place that usually holds a good one or two and whacked a 16 incher on a jewel finesse jig right off the bat, after that nothing. So decided to moter about 4 miles to a hole that is hard to get to but with the river being up some I knew we could make it. Bout the time we got there and started fishing, the sleet opocolypse hit, and I mean coming on Down. The deck of the boat was getting slick. I was throwing a craw and chad was throwing a ned. We get to the top of the hole and he decides to throw a crankbait. Water temp was mid 40s and I was thinking about going with the jerkbait. First cast he nails a solid 14 incher, second cast a fat 16 incher that weighed 2.6. So I picked up my crank and proceeded to catch some. After about an hour the sleet turned to rain, then a hard rain and the temps where right at 35 at this point. We both had on somewhat waterproof stuff, but after a couple hours it started soaking through. Bout the time one of was mentioning giving in, one of us would catch a goodun. Then we’d look at each other and say this is crazy, then we’d catch another one. Finally the pace slowed down and we started getting cold as the sky’s began to darken. Well we had held up pretty good but a 4 mile boat ride with damp cloths at this point proved to be more than refreshing heading back down river, hadn’t been that happy to see a boat ramp in awhile let me tell ya. Moral of this report is, sometimes the worst conditions are the best conditions, low pressure or whatever had them chasing cranks in mid 40’s water, and good quality fishto, was just blessed to be there. Very last fish of the day was a fat 18 incher! It’s more rewarding I think to succeed in conditions that drive most to stay home. I just love fishing, I love everything about it!
Bret

Put the boat in a day break both days at Hickory Hollow. Lots of boats out both days and did see some white/crappie caught although we never stumbled into any. Generally got off the water between 12-2pm. WT was in the 47-49 range.
Spent most of the time pulling crawlers looking for a double digit walleye. Could not get a sniff on the harness so switched over to jerkbaits and found a bunch stacked on a channel roll off. Had 13 eyes on Saturday with a 7lb big one and half a dozen smallies maybe 1 keeper in the bunch. Went back to the same area Sunday and stuck to the jerkbait didn't catch as many or the same quality but still managed about 6 and a handful of smallies.
Probably my best day targeting and catching walleye although we more or less stumbled onto them.

Launched at 0700, it was 37 degrees, misty with a bit of a breeze. Didn't warm up much, it was 43 at the ramp when I pulled out at 2 PM. Water temp varied between 42 and 43.
Threw a jerk bait a bit to start the day, never got a bite on it. Threw it to one spot that has pretty consistently held a bass or two, no takers, threw a Ned in there and caught a keeper sized spot. After that, I just stuck to the Ned.
Bite was slow, sometimes it was super light, I was throwing braid, with a fluoro leader, sensitive rod, and I could not believe, even with that set up, how light some of the bites were. Fish were scattered, some were inside a cove, some were main lake. Caught 14 total, 4 definite keeps and maybe had two others that would've made the mark.
Fish are still deep, 10-20 FOW.
Lots of boats out there today.
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Jigfest is usually about the trout, but we did run across some smallmouth. Friday I fished in Ham's boat along with John's Folly and between the 3 of us we boated about a dozen smallmouth and several largemouth in between trout catches. And we got some really nice chunky smallmouth, anywhere from 13-18" long, and we caught them on Zig jigs.
Ham caught one that was really exceptional, measured around 22" in his net and pulled the Boga grip scales down to the 6 lb. mark. Biggest Arkansas smallmouth I have ever personally eyeballed and I believe Ham said it was the biggest he's caught. Now we did do a quick measurement and weigh, Ham is a stickler for taking care of fish and getting them back in the water as soon as possible, so we didn't get an exact weight or length. All that being said, it was really a nice fish, and sure was fun watching Ham catch it.
It was a bulldogger, never jumped, just stayed down and pulled.
Some pics of the fight and in the net.
Here's a couple more chunks:

I got to tell you, I was a nervous wreck from the time I opened his livewell to him swimming off. He was so hard to even handle, move around. All Paul wanted was a picture of him and the fish... just one.
Unreal set of events:
Documented the fish for 3 years, identify his markings.
Fish caught on a sculpin jig.
Fish caught in a tournament by a guy who only fished Taneycomo once a year.
Fish caught in high winds.
Fish landed using 4 pound line.
The landing was videoed.
Fish survived the fight, handling, transport, handled, transported again and handled one last time only to swim off strong.

Launched at daylight, fished until 1:30 PM.
Cold morning, but warmed up later in the AM. Not much wind.
With no wind there were a few bass coming up to swirl on shad. The shad were scattered, never saw any big shad balls. Had a flock of terns come through and they hung around, they'd dive on shad singles but never would stay in one place and feed on them. Caught a few bass on a Pointer 78 whenever I'd have a bass come close to me chasing shad, but there wasn't enough of that type of activity for me to catch a bunch. Couldn't get them fan casting around the boat.
Got some more fishing the Ned in 15-25 FOW, found them in just a couple of locations, scouted some of my other milk run spots and the bass weren't there.
Later in the morning the sun came out in strength, WT went from 43 to 45, but the improving conditions seemed to have spooked the bass and the fishing got real slow.
Ended up with a dozen bass, 3 were keepers.

Took the hunting and fishing club kids from the school district I'm employed at down to Maramec Springs for our annual field trip. The water was slightly up and dingy, but the fish bit very well. Lots of really nice fish in the stream. I measured a couple that the kids caught that broke the 15" mark. One kid had one that I'm certain was 16-17", but he released it so he didn't have to stop fishing as he already had three on the stringer. An orange trout worm was by far the best bait. Several kids who had never trout fished before used that worm all day long and caught 10 or more trout. Every single kid that went caught trout and most caught at least a limit, but many only kept three so they could fish all day. I caught most of mine on the worm as well, but also had a couple on a black/yellow marabou jig and a white trout magnet.
This was by far the best fish catching trip that we've had since I took over the club five or six years ago.

Many of you are friends one Facebook and have seen one of these pics. Hers a few more and I have also talked to my buddy that was in the bot with my friend Garry Bryant that caught the monster brown. The fish was 35” long and 27” girth. Garry caught it in a 1/16 oz Zig Jig HD in black/chartreuse Zig Jig!! 6 lb line. They had some type of scales that said about 29.5 lbs. it took an hour and a half to revive it and they watched it swim off. They weren’t sure it was going to make it,, and by law in New Mexico catch and release area, if it had died they would have had to leave it in the river!!!!
The guide was Chris Taylor who owns Fisheads San Juan River Lodge. Chris is one of the best guides on the San Juan and I highly recommend contacting him of you decide to plan a trip there.

Fished from first light until 2:30 PM. Sun came out in the afternoon, flat calm and it even got a little warm.
Ned bite was pretty good, boated 25, mostly spots, with a few largemouth and smallmouth mixed in. Got them all on the Ned, except for one on a Keitech 2.8.
Some fish were on long rocky runouts, some were just inside coves around trees. Still getting them deep, anywhere from 12-25 FOW.
Surface temp inched up a degree or so since the last time I was on TR, a little over 43.
Had a couple of guys about a hundred yards from me at one spot working A-rigs, they were catching bass.
The 3 amigos:
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I’m telling you all, beaver is under rated. This dude crushed an olive bugger just under the surface last night. EXPLODED on it. I was positive it was a brown when I caught it. I’m still 99% sure. Any opinions on that? Around 25”. How about a weight? It swam away strong.

I've been off recently and have been able to take advantage of the warmer conditions we've been having. Like others that have been reporting the majority of my success has been on the ned. Catching between 15 - 25 each time with a few nice fish in the 16 - 19 inch range. Lots of fish in the 10 -12 inch size. Without saying too much about location ( no one seems to post about this area🤐) the water temps in the area I've been seeing have been between 46 - 52 degrees depending on time of day and location. Most of the fish have been in the 5 - 15 foot range. Main point I am trying to offer is that the rock is a large lake and water temps can vary greatly.
The ridiculous occurrence I am talking about is what I witnessed at the ramp yesterday. When I pulled up to the dock my boat I saw two guys in the parking lot who had finished taking their boat out of the water loading a net with the fish they had kept. I wasn't sure why but it became apparent shortly. They started back down the bank and proceeded to release the fish into the water. Unfortunately, either due to the stress of being in their well or time they were held out of water they were having difficulty swimming away. So much so that one of them grabbed a stick on the bank and started poking at them ( I guess that is fish CPR 😕). I say this simply to point out if you want to keep fish for the table, then keep them. If you only want to keep fish in your boat is to show off at the ramp then do the right thing and take a picture and release the fish immediately. What's the point of harming/killing fish if you don't plan on keeping them 😠

I have a friend who fishes a reservoir for trout in Colorado and he has tremendous success using a Ned Rig. I haven't heard of many fisherman on Taneycomo using the Ned Rig - let me tell you, the Ned works well! I caught over 20 trout yesterday afternoon between Monkey Island and The Landing using a Ned.
I was using a 1/16 size Ned Rig with a #4 sickle hook and a chartreuse head. I paired the jig with a 2" Z-Man TRD in "The Deal" color. I also cut the TRD in half horizontally so the trout would be less likely to short strike the rig. I fished the Ned just like any other jig and the trout were violently striking it. What a blast! I also had pretty consistent luck using a pink power worm 7 ft. under an indicator on a 1/100 oz. jig with a #10 hook. Most of the fish were caught in the 12-17 ft. range. I didn't get many strikes when I was in water in the 20 ft. range. Maybe it was because I wasn't getting my baits deep enough.
I don't post much on here, because I usually don't have much to report. If wonderful people on this forum such as Mr. Lilley, Mr. Doty, and Mr. Babler didn't post such detailed reports, then my fishing success would continue to be futile. I try to absorb all their expertise that I can. Hopefully I can contribute more and more in the future. Thank you to everybody who shares such great information!!

Got in the water around 0900, it was 38 degrees, cloudy, misty with some bonus wind thrown in. Weather stayed that way all day, except the wind did die off a little in the afternoon.
Fishing was decent, got a dozen bass, 3 keepers, and a walleye that was just short of being a keeper. All on the Ned, with most of the fish being around trees in 15-20 FOW. Slow dragging on the bottom.
Had a lot of bites that I missed, tried a couple of models of Ned heads and used a setup with braid and one with InvisX, didn't seem to matter what I used, the fish were just not staying pinned.
WT 43.
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Dustin Gossett with a nice Table Rock Smallmouth caught on a Megabass 110 plus 2
Couple of really good friends down to fish the AIA that got cancelled practiced in the KC area on Friday, reported really good success fishing to staging fish that seem to have been moving up in the water column on the transitions near the major spawning coves.
Don reported surface temps at 42 degree with clear water. They started on bluff ends and transitions with the A-rig and just could not get bit. Said they saw cruising fish in the water column in the 15' to 30' range on the locations but just could not get bit on the A-rig.
Switched to a 1/4 oz. underspin with a 2.8" Keitech in various colors and the bite started with an extremely slow retrieve, on the locations that they were not getting bit on the rig. Don said the bite was just mush or the bait would stop coming back or you would feel the blade stop thumping or the tail on the Keitech stop vibrating and that was the bite. They were counting down the underspin and also letting it walk the bottom at times. Just really, really slow. Also had fish on a 110 plus 2 in Table Rock color on the same locations, letting the bait set for 30 seconds between jerks. The fish just hit the bait while it was sitting there, not being moved.
Don said it was just super hard to fish slow enough but if you would force yourself to do so you would get bit.
They also spoke to another team that was practicing that told them they were fishing the long gravel point same lake location and reeling a hard head and catching some excellent SM and LM. They had come over and asked if he was practicing for the AIA and told him it had been cancelled and they were going home. Don had not heard, so he was glad they motored over to inform him.
Don said the guys he spoke with had on it looked like 5/8 or 3/4 hard heads and Smallie Beavers as trailers. They also said they had to move the bottom bait in 18' to 30' extremely slow just letting it sit or crawling it along the bottom. Not going to open a can of crayfish here, but I'm guessing they were dragging it.
Don was pretty excited about the bite and really happy with his quality and it sounded like the other dudes were doing good as well.
Good Luck
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After the weekend I had fishing down in the Tucker area, I couldn't help myself and loaded up and put in on the upper end after work. Not two or three casts in, I caught this fish. When his head first came up, I honestly thought it was a 10. The head was the right proportions. I quickly netted it and put it in the well and called a buddy to meet me at the ramp with a scale. When he got there and I pulled the fish out and looked it over. It was actually kind of a bummer (ok not really catching big fish is awesome). The fish was a male; pointed knobby lower jaw, very very skinny. But despite that, the fish measured 24" long and weighted just shy of 6 1/2#. Got a couple pics and turned it back! Great fish but I could only imagine if it was a pre-spawn female I would think it would have been in the 8 pound range!

Put in near Ruark about noon Sat. Fished 26-30 ft flats for crappie, scattered shad on bottom w/ a few lines at 20-22 ft. some within larger fish on them. Only 7 keepers, 4 by fishing buddy, 3 by grandson, 0 by oghfm☹️ Adjourned to cabin for smoked ribs, then trailered to dam. Put in about 5:30 hunting eyes. Tried jerk bait, no luck, switched to minnow tipped road runner, 1 white bass each for me and buddy, 1 23 inch, 4 lb walleye for 12yo grandson. Not sure who was the most excited, but pretty sure he is hooked on fishing. Back to cabin for shuteye/ self analysis. Back on lake down south about 10 am, yielded to roadrunner option, several white bass, 5 keeper crappie apiece for me and buddy, grandson only managed 1 from front of boat, obviously paying for his nice eye the previous night. Bite was slow and soft but w/ promise for future, lake 3 ft high as well as our spirits. Grandson definitely won the weekend.

Yeah along with 8 fat bass (all dead) in the livewell that they caught at Millstone and forgot to release after getting towed back in.
Why everyone feels the need to haul fish around just perplexes me. It wasn't even a tournament day. 🙄
Just for the record.....If your boat comes in here with dead bass in the livewell, you are ineligible for the Good ol'boy discount.

Fishing in Ham's boat, John's Folly, Ham and myself, boated in the neighborhood of 120 trout Friday. A few were on jerk baits, but most came on Zig jigs. Most were rainbows, and we did get maybe 10 or so quality browns, anywhere from 17 to 22" long. Ham (darn that guy) got the biggest brown, a 22" fish. The other guys were also catching some quality browns, I was really impressed with the number and size of the browns we caught.
Something we noted is the smallmouth we caught didn't jump, but the browns were jumpers! Seems kind of backwards. Sure is fun watching those fish grab some air!
You'll notice a pic of Ham's hand with some trout eggs in it - one of the brown he caught dropped some eggs, seems kind of late for one to be spawning, but it was.

this has been around a while, but is worth reading again........
Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for ...the environment.
The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."
The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."
The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain:
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.
Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.
We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.
But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.
Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.
Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a r azor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the"green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?
Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart posterior young person.
We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

Poor ol' Frank, I kind of feel sorry for him now, everybody and their brother is going to be after him. His nice quiet life of living under a dock eating freshly stocked rainbows is now over. Bunch of crazy dudes from St. Louis that never sleep are going to be harassing that poor fish 24 X 7.
HAHA, just kidding guys, go get him!

Got to the launch about 1030 in the AM. It was 35 degrees, cloudy and windy. I have forgotten what nice weather feels like. The wind did die down about 2 PM and the sun even came out for a bit, it was almost nice.
Fishing was slow, caught 9 bass, 2 were keepers, all Ned fish, usually they were in the 10-20 foot range. Had a bite on a tube, missed that one. Fish were scattered and hard to find. Could be the water temp had gone down a little, it being around 43 degrees, and that made things tough.
Caught a 6XD also.

Kind of Harsh. IF your catching fish right now with anything other than dynamite more power to you. I appreciate and respect the time it takes for anyone to make a report, not to mention giving away methods to catch keeper fish.
Dock is doing a great job and we all thank him and look forward to his reports. I also appreciate the other hundreds of posters that truly make this forum a keeper for sure.
Good Luck

Lake Taneycomo is a tailwater fishery. When Table Rock Dam is not generating, the water below the dam is stable and easy to read. I will, in this article, describe each area and how to fish for trout with a fly rod.
I going to assume you are wading. The water below the dam isn’t very deep. In most areas, the water won’t be over your waders. There aren’t any holes or drop offs except directly around the boulders placed my the Missouri Department of Conservation for fish habitat. The deepest water is up close to the cable, marking the boundary line in which not to fish above. This water is too deep to wade so be careful.
Most of the bottom of the lake is gravel but there is larger chunk rock as well as bed rock.
There’s steady, slow current current from the cable down to the Rebar Chute. Rebar is where the lake switches sides, moving quickly down about a 150 foot long, 40 foot wide chute. This actually changes slightly through the years from heavy water flows from generation and flood gates.
The lake opens up below Rebar to a big pool we call Big Hole. What used to be a deep hole has filled in with gravel over the years but is still 3-4 feet deep. The water, again, moves slowly through, then almost stops before hitting the Rocking Chair area.
The Rocking Chair is marked by an access from the south side of the lake, where a person could walk down from a parking area to the lake and sit a rocking chair on the level bank there, sit and watch the lake. I’m sure it’s been done. You’ll find more chunk and bed rock here, shallowing up a bit so the water picks up speed.
Just before you get to the MDC boat ramp access (north side of the lake), the lake gets deeper and narrower, hugging the north bank. Some of the bottom is gravel as well as clay with a big gravel bar on the south side.
At the bottom of this stretch, the lake again changes sides creating a long chute with gravel bottom. This chute is much longer and wider than Rebar, emptying into a stretch called Trophy Run.
Trophy Run is a development on the south side of the lake marked by a community building. The lake is very deep here, more than 10 feet in spots, and is not wadeable. At the bottom of this run is Lookout Island.
At Lookout, and lake becomes shallow again but wide. There’s some current here but I wouldn’t call it a chute at all. At the island, the water starts to deepen, dumping into Lookout Hole. The bottom is all gravel through the shallow areas but turns into bed rock below the island.
This ends the areas I want to cover in this article, although there is good wading and fly fishing below Lookout.
Flies
Film Flies: Soft hackles and Cracklebacks. Also in this category, I have to add RS2’s, WD40’s, Parachute Midge — any fly they settles just below the surface.
Soft hackle color and styles: Bodies can be thread with wire wrap, red, black, green, yellow, orange. Wire wrap only with copper, gold or silver. Flash or another type of mylar material, pearl, pearl red or pearl green. Sizes range from #14 to #20, #20 being the extreme. I usually stay with #16’s and #18’s.
Cracklebacks are tied with furnace hackle with various colors bodies. Peacock herl is the preferred material in natural green, yellow, orange and red. Size is usually a #14.
Dries: Blue Olive Dun, black ant, Adams, Humpy, Elk Hair Caddis, Royal Wolfe, various midges, Griffin’s Gnat, Stimulator and beetles. Sizes vary depending on the fly but normal sizes, mid range — #14’s and #16’s, would work most of the time.
Wet Flies: Scuds, Prince Nymph, Pheasant Tail, Squirrel Tail, sow bugs, various emerger patterns, San Juan Worm, White Mega Worm, eggs patterns and small bead heads. Sizes vary from #14’s to #22’s.
Scuds, or freshwater shrimp, are tied with many types of dubbing material — rabbit, squirrel, mink, possum, kangaroo, dog or cat, synthetics like rayon, and combinations of all of the above. They’re tied on either a TMC #2487, #2457, #3769, #3761 or a #200R hook, depending on your preference. They can be wrapped with wire, weighted or tied with a shell back. Scuds in the natural can be varied shades of gray, olive, tan or brown. When they die they turn orange. They can be fished in sizes ranging from #10 to #20 but the average size is #14 to #18.
I use weighted scuds and sow bugs. You can also use non weighted bugs and add split shot but I find that a split shot will gather moss and catch on rocks more than the fly will.
Streamers: Woolies, Wooly Buggers, Sculpins, Pine Squirrel, PMS, Hibernator, Mo Hair Leach. Woolies and Buggers run from #10’s to #16’s in white, olive, purple, black, brown and pink. Sculpins usually are fished in size #8 or #10. Good colors are gray, ginger, olive, orange, brown or white. Pine Squirrel, PMS, Hibernators and Leeches are fished in the same sizes, adding black, blood red, purple and white to the color selection.
Fly Fishing Tactics
Outlet #1 is a small stream that flows out a pipe, down a chute, then across a gravel bar in to the lake. The stream is very small and really doesn’t hold fish itself. There’s a dropoff at the end where it meets the lake. Trout will hold on this drop and will take a variety of flies.
The lake from the cable down about 150 yards is wide and very little current. This water is good for stripping flies and dead drifting nymphs and midges. This is one of the best places to strip sculpins along the bottom.
As the lake narrows and gets a little shallower, the current picks up. The trout can be more active in this area, picking up midge larva as well as scuds and sow bugs. Fish are apt to take surface and/or film flies like small dries, midges, soft hackles and cracklebacks.
Outlet #2 enters the lake as a waterfall and doesn’t run very far before hitting the lake. Trout are attracted to this outlet more than any other because of the volume of water and the frequent run of trout food escaping from the hatchery raceways.
Fish take many kinds of flies here, mainly dead drifting. The number one fly is a scud with egg flies and San Juan worms close behind. Because the water is faster here, you can get away with using a little heavier tippet.
The pool below outlet #2 is good for stripping small streamers, film flies and dead drifting midges. Also strip sculpins along the bottom here.
Where the lake picks up speed again close to the Rebar Chute, you’re back to drifting scuds, midges, eggs and worms. In the chute, all of the above with more weight of course.
The short stretch below the chute has changed. It’s not as deep as it used to be but it’s still a very area for fishing a small dry or small midges.
Swinging and stripping flies in the Big Hole, especially when there’s a chop on the water, can be excellent fishing. Also dead drifting midges under an indicator. This big area is where you can start fishing a jig under a float–micro and small marabou jigs under a float in various earth colors.
At Rocking Chair, drift scuds, sow bugs, worms and egg flies in the slow current. Strip film flies if there’s a chop on the water. Throw small dries if the trout are rising to midges.
Back too a jig and float at the boat ramp since the water is much deeper. Also beaded flies under a float at various depths. Using sink tip line, throw sculpins in this deeper water because there’s a very good population of sculpins here.
The big chute is a great place to dead drift all kinds of flies close to the bottom and for stripping and swinging streamers and film flies. Work the end of the chute, where it opens out and slows, with those streamers and film flies.
You’re jig and float will work very well through the long, deep water at Trophy Run. Pay attention to the depth of the jig because the water here can be as deep as 10 feet. Find where the trout are — start at 4 feet deep and work down.
When the water starts to shallow up, go back to dead drifting nymphs and midges. As the current picks up, swing and strip film flies. Then, after the water gets deeper, fish all of the above — jigs, scuds, midges, eggs and worms. Also strip sculpins in this area.
Notes and Techniques
In the areas that I would use something under an indicator like a jig or midge, deeper water like from the cable down below outlet #1, Big Hole, MDC boat ramp or Trophy Run, a double fly rig is useful, pairing a heavier fly with a small fly, the heavier fly (jig) being on top and the smaller fly (zebra midge, scud or even soft hackle) on the bottom. We use this rig down lake in deeper water with a fly or spinning rod. Tippet recommendation: 5x – 7x.
Use a dry fly as an indicator. There are times our trout will readily take a dry even though there’s no hatches occurring. Use a big enough dry to float your nymphs or midges. Keep your leader greased well so that your line doesn’t drag your dry underwater. Any of the dry flies I mentioned are good to use. Tippet recommendation: 5x – 6x.
In areas where there’s fairly good current, and you’re dead drifting a nymph under an indicator, add a soft hackle below the nymph. At the end of the drift, let the flies swing up. This is good action for the soft hackle and chances are you’ll get bit at the very end of the drift. Tippet recommendation: 5x – 6x.
Sight Fishing – Even with the water off, no generation, water level on tailwaters is constantly changing, most times by only inches. Fish are keenly aware of this and will work the edges of the water for bugs moving in and out with the water. When bugs (scuds, sow bugs) are on the move they are easy to pick off. Therefore, the edges of the shore is the best place to sight fish.
When targeting these fish, use something they’re looking for — scuds, sow bugs, midges and worms. Don’t back down from using large imitations, especially where there’s schools of trout working a bank. Competition spawns aggressiveness and aggressiveness promotes eating flies that don’t look anything like natural food. Tippet recommendation: 5x – 6x.
Case in point: The White Mega Worm. This big, fluffy yarn worm, sometimes tied on a very small jig head, is more than an attractor fly. Big trout are known to attack this fly in very shallow water. It also works in deeper water. If the fly disappears, it’s probably in a fish’s mouth — set the hook! I suggest using 4 or even 3x tippet. You’ll find yourself getting excited seeing the fish take the fly and setting the hook too hard can be a problem. Plus using a big fly like this, you can get away with heavier tippet.
Midge flies are a fly fisherman’s staple on most tailwaters. Taneycomo is no different. We have midge hatches every day, sometimes all day and even at night. Without going into details like a midge’s life cycle, I just want to convey what midges to use in certain conditions.
I’ve caught more trout using a simple rig where I use a zebra midge under a palsa float than any other technique. Depth is important. If trout are actively taking flies off the surface or in the film, set the indicator only 6 to 12-inches from the first fly. If there’s little or no activity, set it deeper and keep adjusting until you start getting bit. Tippet recommendation: 6x – 7x.
Soft hackles and Cracklebacks are what I call film flies. Both can be skimmed across the surface or just under the surface in the film. Use long leaders and make long casts. There are many ways to retrieve this fly from short, fast to long, slow strips. If there’s current, letting the fly just drift and swing will draw a strike. Tippet recommendation: 5x – 6x.
Streamers are worked in and same way except the fly is further under the surface.
Sculpins are fished with heavy tippet. Most sculpin flies are weighted enough you shouldn’t need to use sink tip leaders. This fly is worked across the bottom so you should use it in gravel areas mainly. Sculpin move quickly from spot to spot, coming to a complete stop when they’re not moving. Your retrieve should mimic this action. Tippet recommendation: 2x – 3x.
Tips
Keep in mind trout in shallow water spook easily so stay on dry ground when ever possible. Rainbows will cruise the edges of the shore in very shallow water looking for scuds which travel along the banks. Don’t just arbitrarily wade out to the middle of the lake — you’ll miss some of your best fishing opportunities.
Try to land your fly line as gently on the water as possible when casting. It is true our rainbows are used to anglers casting and wading in the upper lake but you’re chances improve greatly the more stealth you are in your presence.
Proper mending of line is a must when dead drifting, swinging and even stripping flies. Pay attention closely and make adjustments where needed.
Change. I suggest never casting and retrieving the same way more than a few times. Cover water like you’re painting a wall. Vary your strip patterns till you find what the fish like and then if they get off that pattern, change again. Same with flies. Change color and sizes will you find something that will work. Never assume they’re not feeding — they’re just not interested in what you’re throwing and/or how you’re offering it.
Your indicator should be as small as possible to float and/or pull the fly through the water you’re fishing. If you’re dragging a fly across the bottom, like a scud, your indicator needs to big a little bigger so that the fly, when it catches the bottom, doesn’t stop, pulling the indicator under. This especially works in #2 outlet and the Rebar Chute.
Dead drifting: Always set the hook downstream, into the fish’s mouth. Keep the rod tip low when possible and use the water to add tension to the line set. It will be a quicker hookset as well as keep your lone/fly from ending up in the trees behind you.
Film flies: Soft hackles and cracklebacks. On the take, trout will almost always hook themselves. Setting the hook will break your line more times than naught.
Read Water Conditions and Adapt
Fish will almost always feed better under a choppy surface verses a calm, slight surface. Current does make up for no wind but still, a slight breeze does wonders for the bite.
Couple of things to consider when reading the water. Darker skies and broken water — fly size can be bigger and so can your tippet size. Bright sunshine and slick surface conditions mean the fish won’t be as active and can see everything more clearer. Drop in tippet size and go to smaller flies.
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Well I finally Got Pat's new trolling motor on the boat. Today St. Patrick's day is her Birthday and this TM is her gift. She actually is a Saint for putting up with the BilletHead for so long. I mounted it to one of those quick disconnect mounts. This way I can change it between the two boats and have one good TM. Still need to get a second heading sensor for second boat. Pat can hardly wait for me to try it out . I am kind of excited myself,
BilletHead

Generally. Busy spring. Oldest graduates in May. Just finished basketball and powerlifting seasons (girls repeated as 5A state lifting champs). Swimming now, lol. Working on a tin boat with the boy.
May or may not have been sighted in Springfield yesterday 😉.

So last Sunday I'm sitting in a rental outside my hotel in Ontario, CA. It was 3pm and I had nowhere to be until 10am the next morning. I put Malibu into the GPS and just went from there. 221 miles through a place I did't belong.
On Tuesday I was coming back from a couple of days in the high desert and came across this. Beautiful area.

Thumbs that location is really a head scratcher. I have fished it at the right and wrong time for 25 years. It is a huge tree row, with none of them really ever visible. I have caught them there maybe a handful of times. My best ever was on a spook and a Dixie Jet. We had between 20 and 23 pounds off it, one day. Another time another guide buddy told me he had hammered them out there on a weightless Worm. I went out there the next day and it was stupid. Just catching and releasing them we had close to 100 pounds of Bass off that tree line. 99% were quality LM up to 6 pounds. BP yellow floating worm with a full finish nail in the head and a swivel about 2 ft. up the line. Just throw it out and tight line it down. They just hammered it, usually between the count of 10 and 20. Went back 3 days later and no bites and for the rest of that year checking it now and then on anything I would throw, no bites.
Beck and I went out there once several years ago about this exact time. I was fishing a Megabass 110 weighted in french pearl and he was fishing a Spro Blue Bandit we had both baits weighted with lead on the hooks. He gave me a butt kicking that still hurts if I sit down wrong. He had 6 that would have gone 18 before I got seated really well.
You never want to get behind that far fishing a jerkbait cause if you do you will never catch up. There is no way to slow down if your behind like that. Bill told me the day he got kicked out there it seemed to him all he was doing was netting is Co. anglers fish. He said it got so bad and he got so flustered he was fishing his stickbait like a buzz bait.
Buster of course knows about it. It is usually a bit to far for him to drive, but right when the Keitech's came out a few years ago he caught an early Spring bag off it swimming a 3.8 inch rainbow shad Keitch on I believe either a 1/4 or 3/8 scrounger head thru that set of pole timber.
He told me they were on it in there BigTime all LM and scary big. I went back twice in the next week and all I got was tree bit. One of the strangest locations on any lake I've ever fished.
O have lots of fishing stories and most end with someone hammering me.

I don’t think there has been a bad Jigfest, but this was one of the best. The food, the ppl, and the fishing all came together really well.
The food was just fantastic. I need Les to teach me how to do brisket. It was so Good. The pulled pork was perfect. Marty’s BBQ sauce is top notch and I throughly enjoyed the Sauce piquant. Phil brought smoked salmon again and I always enjoy that. Les brought his fish cooker and Bret did the cooking. Richard brought panfish and Bret brought catfish. There were fries and hush puppies too! It was so good!
The White River is a phenomenal playground. It fishes differently through the seasons and water levels and weather, but the only time nobody catches them is when the water is muddy or trashed by algae and other vegetation kicked up by high generation. From min flow to 8 units, people catch trout. I prefer lower flows because the boating is easier and I catch fish better.
We had what I consider tough conditions, but we were all pretty darn successful. I would have liked everybody to get a few Browns over 20 inches, but fishing can be cruelly random. Same bait, same location, same techniques and yet different results. I got lucky a lot over the last few days.
I appreciate the kind words and kudos. These JigFest deals help keep me humble though. Everybody catches these fish when given the opportunity. I’m fortunate enough to live on the White River so I get a few more trips in than most. I am proficient with a Zig Jig, but not significantly better than lots of the guys at Jigfest.
It was a Blast fellas. Thank You!

Ham’s 6’5” and tends to make fish look small.
I use the net with measuring built in to get a quick and gentle measurement. That fish was either 22 inches or really darn close like 21 3/4 inches.
I don’r Worry about weight much, but we had the bogs handy so why not. I expected over 5, but was very surprised when the bogs said 6. I’ll try it at the grocery store and see if it is close to accurate.
It was a heck of a fish that I was honestly shocked by. Biggest smallmouth I’ve ever caught and I’ve caught more than a couple.

Guys around here do that crap all the time. It boils my balls.
The guides all do it so they can post pics/videos on their insanely gay Facebook accounts. By the way.... Please Like And Subscribe! and call/text/or message them for a trip. 🙄
The YouTube channel guys do it so they can have an "end of day" scene in their videos. It's the whole signing off, "thanks for watching", hallelujah thing.
Yeah, I'd like to shove all of them, and all their GoPro's, into a soggy bilge compartment and leave them there until they loose about 30 pounds, and don't feel handsome enough to be movie stars anymore.

Figure we can dump pictures here of all our amazing catches.
I made it on the board with a small brownie last night as we attempted to wade heavy flows at cotter... BIL Geno stuck a better one before we headed back to cabin. Poor Brandon caught the skunk 😛
Didn't fish very long as we were pretty much fishing blind in heavy current.
Can't wait to get out with Bret @LittleRedFisherman today and hopefully hammer them.

There may be several anglers that would be pleased just to catch and release a record fish and that would be the end of it. But, I feel that it needs to be recorded and entered into Missouri's fishing history. And I think that it would be especially important for Missouri's" trout fishing" history. The importance of catching a record trout would vary from angler to angler, but I feel most would be extremely pleased. A recorded record would show how Missouri's trout program has advanced Lake Taneycomo into the fishery it is today and the fishery it will become in the future. We just stepped into a "world class rating" with a 34lb fish. My considerable thanks to all MDC personnel involved with our cold water fisheries. And that includes past and present. On a side note, I am reasonably sure that Mr. Crews becomes the first Missouri brown trout record holder to release a confirmed record.